Environment and Society Citizens Culture and Nature

About this book

Environment and Society explores one of the most pressing and complex questions of the early 21st Century: how to promote the behavioural shifts necessary for creating the 'sustainable society'? Through a critical approach to the links between sustainability, policy and citizen engagement, the book argues that sustainability policy needs to undergo a major conceptual shift, moving away from a negative approach to behaviour change towards a positive perspective, utilising the well-known techniques of segmentation and social marketing. Such 'mainstreaming' of sustainable lifestyles is likely to be the only effective means of engaging the majority of citizens in the environmental debate, given the major influence of the consumer society on individual aspirations and beliefs.

Comprised of three substantive elements, "Environment and Society" explores the context for behaviour change policy, the approaches adopted by politicians and academic researchers, and the application of such approaches using empirical data from two major research projects.

The book is richly illustrated using both theoretical and empirical data and provides an excellent companion to all researchers interested in sustainable lifestyles.

Contents

Foreword; Preface; Part 1 Contexts; Green dilemmas; Sustainability; Policy; Part 2 Perspectives: Behaviour change: policy and practice; The social-psychology of environmental action; Part 3 Approaches: Framing environmental practice; Sustainable lifestyles; The 'value-action' gap; Part 4 Applications: Changing behaviour: a social marketing approach; Sustainability, citizens and progress; Bibliography; Index.

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Biography

Dr Stewart Barr is a Lecturer in Geography in the School of Geography, Archaeology and Earth Resources at the University of Exeter, UK.